Friday, August 11, 2017

In the next few years wireless providers are
planning the broad deployment of 5G wireless services. Here’s some details:

Current International Telecommunication Union (ITU) specifications
for 5G specify a total download capacity of at least 20Gbps and 10Gbps uplink
per mobile base station.

In contrast, the peak data rate for current LTE cells is about
1Gbps.

Under ideal circumstances, 5G networks will offer users a maximum
latency of just 4ms, down from about 20ms on LTE 4G networks.

The 5G specification also calls for a latency of just 1ms for a
stepped up service called ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC).

In support of the Internet of Things, 5G must
also support at least 1 million connected devices per square kilometer (0.38
square miles). This may seem like a lot but when every traffic light,
parking space, and vehicle is 5G-enabled, we'll easily start to hit that
kind of connection density and will see 5G towers on places like major highways
every 100 feet or so.

How is connectivity delivered these days to wireless
towers, and how will it be delivered in the future? Fiber!

5G networks will be predominantly fiber-based
due to the combination of tower capacity and distance requirements. We will see
limited microwave antennas used in niche cases when fiber is not an option.
Technicians will need to have a good understanding of fiber characterization
testing and troubleshooting as these super-fast high capacity networks roll
out. In addition, skills in troubleshooting dirty or damaged connectors, tight
fiber bends, faulty fiber splices, Optical Time Domain
Reflectometry (OTDR), attenuation, and chromatic and polarization mode
dispersion will become even more critical. Fiber to the tower is a critical enabler of 5G wireless services
including The Internet of Things. For more information see Preparing the Transport Network for
5G: The Future Is Fiber and check out the rest of the OP-TEC August 2017 edition
and previous monthly newsletters here.

In 2001, I was selected as one of the top 15 STEM faculty in the United States by Microsoft and the American Association of Community Colleges and in 2004 was selected as the Massachusetts Network and Communications Council Workforce Leader of the year.